As Congress Loses Rajasthan, Can ‘Magician’ Ashok Gehlot Still Survive to Cast Another Spell?

Early morning at Ashok Gehlot’s polling booth in Sardarpura on November 25, a family of three was the first to cast their vote after landing there at 6:30 am. Some hours later, News18 met a couple of families at a booth in Jodhpur city who claimed to know Gehlot well.

The first polling booth was just a stone’s throw distance from Gehlot’s ancestral house. But the woman in the first family here, after voting, complained about the law and order situation in the state. Her son, a first-time voter, was upset about the paper leaks in Rajasthan, and said he had been a victim twice.

At the booth in Jodhpur city, a woman said she had been Gehlot’s classmate and that he was a “good man”, but said his administration left a lot to be desired. “It is difficult to take a morning walk in Jodhpur. There are chain snatchings abound,” the woman said.

Another man said Kanhaiya Lal’s killing had left an indelible mark of shame on image of the state, which once stood for communal harmony.

This encapsulated the mood in Rajasthan where the guarantees offered by the Congress were dimmed by the Ashok Gehlot government’s poor record on the issue of paper leaks, crimes against women and the charge of appeasement following the brutal killing of tailor Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur.

Travelling in Eastern Rajasthan, News18 found numerous locals who said the show of ‘unity’ by Sachin Pilot and Ashok Gehlot now was a “façade” as they had fought bitterly for four-and-a-half years and the administration had suffered. “Even if the Congress wins, it won’t make Pilot the CM. They removed him as Deputy CM too. So why vote for them?” a group of young Gujjar youths in Dausa had told News18.

Gehlot, however, would take heart from the fact that Congress numbers have not crashed to the low of 21 seats as in the 2013 state elections when his government had lost. The Congress this time is notching up about 70 seats and is close to the number of 73 seats that Vasundhara Raje-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got in 2013 while losing power to Gehlot.

The outgoing CM would cite the same to say he does remain popular given the guarantees he gave, but the party had suffered due to other issues.

Pilot would, however, see the loss as a vote of no-confidence in Gehlot’s style of administration and would use this to reinforce his case before the High Command to hand over the reins of the party in Rajasthan now to him.

The Congress high command was upset with Gehlot last year, given the rebellion by his close aides over the move to make Pilot the CM.

Will they use this loss to banish Ashok Gehlot or can the magician still survive?